INDORE: Shillong police, who are investigating the murder of Indore businessman Raja Raghuvanshi, on Wednesday recovered a country-made pistol, two magazines and ammunition that were purchased by Raj and kept ready to kill Raja if the other accused failed to kill him in the earlier attempt.
"On Wednesday afternoon, as per the lead provided by the accused (Shilom James), a country-made pistol with two magazines and two .32 ammunition were recovered by SIT from a stream and Rs 50,000 from his car (MP09WG2352), which he had taken out from the laptop bag of Raj. The bag was burnt, and the laptop was thrown by the roadside and could not be found," East Khasi Hills SP Vivek Siyem said.
Indore police sources said that after interrogation of Lokendra and Shilom on Tuesday night, Shilom confessed that he had thrown the bag in a nullah behind Industry House in the Old Palasia area.
Acting on the information, a team of Shillong police, along with the crime branch officials, reached the spot. A crime branch official and Shilom James entered the nullah and searched in the muck for several minutes before the white packet containing the pistol was found.
While James confessed to tossing the packet from the bridge, which is covered for beautification, it was not clear how he came to know where it had landed exactly as he was able to recover it quickly. There is also no clarity yet on when the packet was thrown by the accused—was it after the arrests were made and it had become clear that Sonam committed the crime with her accomplices and was hiding in the flat, or after Raja's body was found.
The remaining money has also not been traced yet.
The police have recovered chats of Lokendra and Shilom about the items in the flat and their disposal. Sources said that Lokendra claimed during interrogations that he was not directly involved in the crime.
"All three accused arrested in Raja Raghuvanshi murder case--- Shilom James, Lokendra Tomar, and Balvinder Ahirwar-- were flown to Shillong on Wednesday evening on an 8:45 flight. They have collected the necessary evidence, and Indore police provided them the support," said Additional DCP Rajesh Dandotiya.
They will be produced before the court in Shillong on Thursday and taken on remand, said SP Siyem.
SP Syiem had earlier confirmed that both Sonam and Raj have admitted to being in a relationship and had planned to remove Raja from their lives. "It's clear that both Sonam and Raj were in a relationship. It has also been found that both of them had a company and wanted to further their own business and these are the only things that appeared to be in the interest to get rid of Raja but investigation is still on. Because of customs that they needed to agree with their parents to get married, they thought that it was better to get rid of this person. They thought that if the body wasn't found, no one would ever discover the truth."